Update March 2004:Dr. Butler was sentenced to two years in prison and more than $50,000 in fines.

Update February 2004:As a consequence of his conviction, Dr. Butler surrendered the medical license which authorized him to practice medicine in Texas.

Update December 2003:Thomas C. Butler was convicted December 1 on 47 of the 69 charges he faced, but was acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI, smuggling plague samples into the United States and illegally transporting samples. His attorneys say the guilty verdicts will be appealed.

Dr. Thomas C. Butler, a preeminent authority on infectious diseases at Texas Tech University, was charged in early 2003 with allegedly smuggling samples of plague bacteria into the United States, improperly transporting them within the country, and lying about them to authorities. Additional charges of theft, embezzlement and fraud were added in a second indictment. If convicted of all charges, he would have faced life in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

Here at FAS we don't know what Dr. Butler did or why. But we share the concern of other independent observers that the government prosecuted this case in a manner grossly disproportionate to the offenses that were alleged. Dr. Butler is not a terrorist.

"It's of grave concern that in a free society, such an Alfred Hitchcockian situation could emerge," said Peter Agre, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry.